Immersion heater burner housing with flame arrester



Oct. 11, 1955 w. A. LEBUS 2,720,201

IMMERSION HEATER BURNER HOUSING WITH FLAME ARRESTER Filed Oct. 11. 19482 Sheets-Sheet l fl v v ||l||||| Tllllll Oct. 11, 1955 w. A. LEBUS2,720,201

IMMERSION HEATER BURNER HOUSING WITH FLAME ARRESTER Filed Oct. 11. 19482 Sheets-Sheet 2 Un -f te Parent p 2,7z0,201'j IMMERSION "HEATER BURNERHOUSING WITH FLAME ARRESTER. i a AJL ebus, Chicagoan; assiguor toProtectoseal Company, Chicago,lll.,acorporation'of IllinoisApplicationvflctober ll, 1948; SerlabNo. 53,790

4 chin c1; 126-85) This invention relates i to :an imm'ersion heater andmore particularly it relate'swo an immersion heater flame arresto'rstructure. The invent-ion will' be' described in connection with apipe-line burner operatively connected to a combustion tube of a heaterfor gas pipe lines to prevent condensation comprising a flame arrestorand housing assembly for a burner operatively connected to a combustionchamber. i

Immersion heaters of the type. herein disclosed are placed below groundand are employedto heat aflowing fluid such as gaswhich is beingpumpedfrom its sourceto distant points. When the distance is great,several .pump- .ingstations are provided along the pipelines to movethefluid, and inasmuch as gas is likely to become-;partiallyconde'nsedffrom the cold, immersion." heaters are provided.aIongY-the'pipe lines toheat the flowingtgass One of the objects ofthis invention ris the provision of a fiame arrestor which admits airto; the burner but prevent any flame from escaping, t jetiines-a leakoccurs in'ta pipeline and theigas finds its way to the pit which isassociated with the'he'ater. One object of this invention is theprovision of a flame arrestor and the burner of the heater which willprevent any flame to escape from the burner to the pit, therebypreventing an explosion of the accumulated gas in the pit.

Another object is to provide a flame arrestor of simple and novelconstruction for use on an immersion heater and which is highlyeffective for the purpose intended.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of thisspecification and with said objects and advantages in view, thisinvention consists in the several novel features hereinafter fully setforth and more particularly defined in the appended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanying thisspecification, in which:

Fig. 1 is a central vertical longitudinal section through an immersionheater embodying a simple form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail enlarged plan of the flame arrestor partly brokenaway.

Fig. 3 is a central vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 3'3of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Referring to said drawings which are merely illustra tive of a simpleform of the present invention, the reference character 5 designates anelongated tank located below the surface of the ground, said tankcontains water heated by a burner 6. Evaporated water may be replenishedthrough a filler pipe 7, and a vent tube 8 leads from the tank to asuitable point above the surface of the ground above the tank to releasepressure in the tank.

One or more pipe lines 9 lead through the tank from the source of thefluid to the destination thereof and said pipe lines are surrounded bythe water in the tank.

At one end of the tank is a pit 10 which leads up to or above thesurface of the ground above the tank and usually a ladder (not shown) isprovided in the pit for 2,120,201 Patented Oct. 1,

an attendantto reach the bottom of the pit and'to climb up therefrom. Alid 10ais provided fortheopen top of the pit, and an airinlet pipe -10bextends up from the top wall of the pit to admit air to the pit andburner. The pipe lines are usually placed above the center of the tankand extend out through the pit. Below the pipe lines.

is a burnertube 11 which .may extend from the end wall 12 of thetankthroughthe other end wall "13, 'andto the protruding end of theburner tubeisconnecteda chimney 14 which leads up to or above thesurface ofltheground above the tank and conducts the products ofcombustion away from the burner tube. The burner tube is shown asmounted on the end"wall 25a by adisc 11a boltedto the wall 251: and'aninterposed centrally apertured disc 11b welded to the wall. The disc 11ais formed with anaxially disposed internally threadedcollar into whichone end of the bur'ner tube 11is screwed. Leakproof jointsarealsoprovided at theother endof the burner tube, and also between thepipelines and theend walls of the tank; 5

Extending into the pitfrom the wall n; in alignment with the'burner tube11, is a receptacle 15in which' is contained a burner 16 0f common andwell known c oristruction, also disposed in coaxial= alignment with theburner tube 11. Inrthe top wall17 of the receptacle is an opening 18through which air is admitted todhe receptacle. The burner tip 19 islocated at one end of the body 20 of the burner, which body has an airinl'et opening adjacent the tip, and a secondair'iniet opening isprovided in a flaring hollowbody20d Which 'is formed with a nipple 22 onone end that extendsinto a sleevelike member 1 1d formedbetween the discll'a and the threaded collar 110. Set screws 23 are threaded in themember 11a and bear against-the nipple 22 m prevent any endwi'semovement th'ereof: A supply pi em forthe fuel for the burner leads froma suitable source and extends through the wall 25 of the receptacle andis secured in the burner body and communicates with the tip 19. Ifdesired, a pilot light tube 26 leading from a suitable source may beprovided for igniting the fuel issuing from the tip.

The outer end of the receptacle 15 may be supported as by posts, one ofwhich is seen at 27 and an angle iron bracket 28 secured thereto.

The opening 18 in the top wall 17 of the receptacle is here shown as ofrectangular form and surrounding said opening is a flange 30 of steel,brass or other suitable material, and resting upon said flange is aflame arrestor 31 which is removably secured to said flange and to thetop wall of the box by bolts 32 and bolts 32a.

The heads of the bolts 32 are Welded to the top wall of the receptacleand extend up through holes in the frame members of the flame arrestorand. have wing nuts on their upper threaded ends which bear against theupper frame member and secure the flame arrestor to the receptacle. Thebolts 32a extend down through the holes in the frame members of theflame arrestor and have nuts on their lower threaded ends, which are letinto holes formed in the flange 30. The flame arrestor may be removed asa whole by first unscrewing the wing nuts from the bolts 32, the bolts32a and nuts thereon functioning to hold the members of the flamearrestor together.

The flame arrestor has top and bottom rectangular frame members 33, 34between which is an intermediate frame member 35, the bars 36 of whichare narrower than the bars 37 of the top and bottom frame members.

Resting on the protruding edge portions of the bars 37 of the bottomframe member is a grid assembly 38 which may be composed of parallelspaced narrow grid plates 39 which extend crosswise of the frame membersand are confined between the protruding edge portions of the bars 33,34. The grid plates may be spaced apart by Washers 40 or teats and maybe tied together by tie rods 41 that extends through the grid plate 39and through the washers 40 and have nuts on their ends by which the gridplates of the grid assembly are held tightly against the washers,whereby they are suitably spaced apart to permit the passage of air inone direction and to prevent the passage of a flame in the oppositedirection in case of a back fire.

,Threadedly mountcdin one end bar 43 of the intermediate frame member 35are set screws 44 which are screwed up tightly against one end of thegrid assembly thereby clamping it tightly against the opposite frame barof the intermediate frame member, and lock nuts 45 are provided on theset screws for locking them in adjusted position.

In operation the heat from the burning fuel heats the burner tube 11which heats the water in the tank and the heated water heats the fluidflowing through the pipe lines in the tank.

In the event that gas accumulates in the pit, it can- I not becomeignited by any back fire from the burner receptacle because of the flamearrester which prevents any flame from escaping from the receptacle.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same, without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence, I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the exact form construction, arrangement and coming aplurality of relatively spaced grid plates and tie rods connecting saidgrid plates in such spaced arrangement, a frame for said grid platessupported on the supporting means surrounding said air inlet opening andcomprising, in interdependent assembly, independent top and bottom framemembers and an intermediate frame member disposed between said top andbottom frame members and by which said grid plates are mounted withinsaid frame, and means carried by said intermediate frame member tosecure the grid plates in the frame.

2. A flame arrester and burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gridplates are removably positioned within the confines of the top andbottom frame members thereby permitting access to said burner housingwhen said flame arrester is disassociated from said frame members.

3. A flame arrester and burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the meanscarried by said intermediate frame member for positively positioning thegrid plates within the confines of said frame members includes pluralmeans.

4. A flame arrester and burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein thehousing includes top, bottom, side and end walls, said flame arresterbeing associated with one of said walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS414,800 Edminster Nov. 12, 1889 1,237,858 Ballenger Aug. 21, 19171,294,999 Brickman Feb. 18, 1919 1,372,713 Maxwell Mar. 29, 19211,641,350 Nieberding Sept. 6, 1927 1,751,533 Taylor Mar. 25, 19301,841,465 Branche Ian. 19, 1932 1,853,277 Johnston Apr. 12, 19321,869,897 Hymer Aug. 2, 1932 1,935,705 Fuller Nov. 21, 1933 2,186,752Connell Ian. 9, 1940 2,531,139 Lilly et al. Nov. 21, 1950

